Allegations that a coach bullied a player spawned several inquiries into how the North Hunterdon-Voorhees school board has handled that and similar complaints.

More than a year after the most recent complaint against the coach (he faced similar allegations in 2005), the inquiries have touched the board's top leadership. At its Aug. 20 meeting, the school board may discuss seeking the resignation of Superintendent Charles Shaddow.

Events leading up to this moment have included a board member resigning in protest after the coach's re-appointment, a state investigation, and recriminations from board members against school officials, the media and one another.

Aug. 21: Lebanon Township resident Dee Palmer tells the school board that Voorhees baseball coach Chris “Spark” Mattson grabbed her son Mitchell by the neck after the boy had been called out — the third out of the inning — sliding into third base.

Those allegations would lead to a $19,000 investigation by school board attorney Brenda Liss, which sidelined the decision in the fall to reappoint Mattson as coach.

After the meeting, Ingram sends a 12-page letter to Gerald Vernotica, the state superintendent of Hunterdon County schools, detailing incidents in which North Hunterdon-Voorhees students were allegedly bullied or intimidated by adult staffers. The incidents were known to school officials, Ingram said, but they were not investigated under the state's anti-bullying laws.

March 12: Ingram’s resignation letter is released. She writes of a “consistent pattern of failure” on the part of school officials to report information shared by students and their families. “The administration has ignored, dismissed, and discounted verbal communication and written communication regarding the appropriate treatment of our children in some classrooms, some fields, some locker rooms and some courts.”

March 14: Board President Beverly Thorne disputes Ingram's assertion that some allegations of bullying were ignored. "I'm not cognizant of any incident that was not investigated," Thorne says.

March 28: Vernotica passes Ingram's complaint to Trenton, as is standard procedure, says Department of Education spokesman Rich Vespucci. A formal investigation would then proceed, centering on compliance with statutes, regulations and the district’s policies and procedures, specifically as they relate to implementing the Anti-Bullying Act.

APRIL

April 1:The state investigation into allegations that North Hunterdon-Voorhees officials failed to properly investigate reported incidents of bullying begins.

Vernotica would characterize those statements in an Aug. 9 letter as “one person’s opinions at a specific point during the course of a lengthy investigative process and did not reflect my official assessment of your engagement with the Department.”

July 23: In a state-required self-assessment of each school’s performance by the district’s School Safety Committee, Voorhees scores 61 of 75 possible points. North scores 70. The scores reflect the committee's judgment that both schools met or exceeded the requirements behind 25 separate indicators.

July 30: Shaddow suggests that Hetrick was influenced by the district’s failure to give special treatment to a colleague of hers who had applied for a job there while she was conducting her inquiry.

AUGUST

Aug. 1: District spokeswoman Maren Smagala sends an email to the Democrat that is a point-by-point response to remarks made by Hetrick in emails to Vernotica, which the Democrat had received through an Open Public Records Act request and released on July 29. Smagala puts Thorne's name at the bottom of the response letter.